Welcome my friend
The Jungle of Calais, February – October 2016

At the end of October 2016, the «Jungle of Calais» was dismantled by the authorities.
In the nine months leading up to the evacuation, Gilles Raynaldy photographed this territory and the lives of the refugees who resided there. The book Welcome my friend, published in 2023, retraces this experience. Approximately eighty analog photographs (in color and black and white), accompanied by excerpts from his journal, form a memory through sedimentation. The book unfolds like a film, following wanderings and the passing of seasons: gradually, the photographs offer glimpses into the life of the place, which is discovered through the actions, gestures, and gazes of the people who inhabited it, and the environment that reveals itself around them. Writer Marielle Macé sheds light on the photographer’s approach, his
non-intrusive presence, his attention to places, details, and gestures. Anthropologist Michel Agier, on the other hand, highlights the urban forms and social practices that were invented in the Jungle and whose lessons remain relevant.

«When asked why I took photographs, I often replied, perhaps naively: ‘For my people, so that they can see, so that they can know you a little better. We need it because we are afraid.’ But that was only half of the answer. It would have been difficult to add that I saw beauty in the Jungle: the way they cultivated little gardens, the organization of kitchens and courtyards, the modes of construction, the decorations of Afghan restaurants, the ways of sitting, making fires, cooking, doing laundry, and so on. How could I have taken photographs if I hadn’t seen beauty in these ways of being, doing, and living?»

Gilles Raynaldy’s photographic work focuses on social subjects, gestures, architecture, and urban planning, employing an empirical and empathetic approach. His first book, Jean-Jaurès (Purpose éditions, 2015), dedicated to a school in the Parisian suburbs, was nominated for several international awards.

Welcome my friend was produced in association with PEROU (Pôle d’exploration des ressources urbaines) and with the support of CNAP (Centre national des arts plastiques).
The book was published with the help of the Fondation Antoine de Galbert.
Publishers: Le Point du Jour (French version) Spector Books (English version)

This gallery presents a selection from the series.

France Culture Interview : France Culture – Gilles Raynaldy et son objectif pudique dans la «Jungle de Calais»